Series: Film / TV

The World of the Vampires directed by Alfonso Corona Blake

1961 was still another interesting year for the Mexican horror film, as that country’s so-called Golden Age of Horror continued apace. The year saw the release of the intriguingly titled offering The Curse of Nostradamus, as well as the third, fourth and fifth films in the Santo series – Santo vs. the Zombies, Santo vs. the King of Crime and Santo in the Hotel of Death – a series that would go on till 1976 and comprise over 50 films (!) detailing the adventures of the luchador wrestler turned cinematic crime-fighting superhero.

Born in 1887 in Surrey, England, William Henry Pratt would eventually change his name to Boris Karloff and wind up becoming one of the most important figures that the world of horror cinema has ever known. Although he had been in films since as early as 1919, it wasn’t until his legendary turn as the Frankenstein monster in the classic Universal film of 1931 that Karloff’s career really got off the ground. Between then and the end of his career, in 1968, Karloff appeared in hundreds of films, both on the big screen and on television, around 60 of which served to cement his reputation as one of horror’s all-time greats.

During the course of my horror-movie musings here on FanLit, this film buff has written many reviews of scary pictures that were the products of Britain and Italy. And indeed, what with Hammer Studios in the former and the dozens of giallo films issuing forth from the latter, there really is a seemingly endless number of mind-blowing horror films to be had from those two countries alone. But Italy and the U.K. were surely not the only countries “across the pond” to have produced wonderful horror fare, and in today’s Shocktober column, I would like to shine a light on some other European countries that have given the world some shocking cinematic experiences.

As I believe I have mentioned elsewhere, the history of the 1940s horror film can practically be summarized in two words: Universal and Lewton. Over at Universal Studios, a continuing stream of pictures featuring such classic characters as Frankenstein, Dracula, the Invisible Man, and the Mummy emerged to delight and entertain war-weary audiences. Meanwhile, over at RKO, producer Val Lewton, beginning with 1942’s Cat People, would come out with a series of subtle horror films that depended more on atmosphere and mood, rather than gruesome monsters themselves, to deliver shudders. Some other Lewton horrors to emerge that decade would include the truly wonderful and artful I Walked With a Zombie (1943) and the undersung Boris Karloff outing Isle of the Dead (1945).

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “sleeper” as “someone or something unpromising or unnoticed that suddenly attains prominence or value,” and that is just the kind of horror film that I would like to discuss in today’s Shocktober column. Below you will find five examples of what I would consider a “sleeper” horror film; films that are sleepers not because they might put you to sleep – far from it – but rather, because they are seldom-discussed items that just might surprise you with their manifold fine qualities. All five of these films are ones that have somehow managed,

Born in Madrid in 1930, Jesus Franco Manera would go on to become one of the most prolific filmmakers that international cinema has ever witnessed. Under his professional name Jess Franco, the man would, starting in 1959 and then continuing all the way to the year of his death in 2013, ultimately come out with no fewer than 173 films (!), all of which he either directed, wrote, produced, and/or appeared in as an actor. Franco’s films covered an enormous variety of subject matter – horror, sci-fi, giallo, war movies, “adult films” and so many others – and his distinctive visual style,